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48
JANUARY 2015
SUMMARY
JUDGMENTS
REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS!
Two Chicago Favorites Deliver Winners
Balcon
By Lowell B. Komie
Swordfish Chicago, 2013
Toni and Markus, From Village Life to Urban
Streets
By Walter Roth
Walter Roth, 2014
Reviewed by Bonnie McGrath
B
oth of these books arrived at my
door at the same time. Both are
written by long-time Chicago law-
yers, who have made writing an avocation,
a sideline if you will, throughout their
distinguished legal careers. I have reviewed
their books (and enjoyed them very much)
in the
CBARecord
through the years. And
while the themes and topics and styles
of their books may have been somewhat
BonnieMcGrath is a sole prac-
titioner and a member of the
CBA Record Editorial Board.
different as they pursued their writing,
something binds them together. So, it
makes sense for me to review these two
books together. I think if you like either of
these authors and the books they’ve written
in the past, you will more than appreciate
them now.
Walter Roth has done a remarkable thing
in his latest tome about his father and step-
mother, Toni and Markus. They were Jews
and lucky to have left Germany when they
did. Still, it was hard. Not joyous. Settling
in Chicago with a blended family–Roth
was a young boy–detached from their vil-
lage life and thrust into a Midwest urban
milieu of the late 1930’s, it is quite correct
to say they were never the same afterwards.
Almost all of this story is told in transcripts
of conversations between Roth and his
stepmother, captured for all time–before
she passed away at the age of 99.
He asks her interesting questions about
feelings. And he gets answers that include
things she felt about his family when he
was a little boy, what it was like marrying
her late cousin’s husband, raising her three
children (one of whom developed severe
emotional problems), leaving Germany
for America, missing Germany, worrying
about everything and giving birth to a child
of her own only six months after arriving.
What was it like to leave everything she
knew, and ultimately watch a remarkable,
outgoing and hardworking new husband
descend into profound sadness and despair
as he transitioned into a new life in Chi-
cago, paints a fascinating and realistic
portrait of immigrants at that time.
The book tells us as much about Chi-
cago after they arrived in 1938 as it does
about the intimate details of their family
life. Roth’s questioning of his stepmother is
painstaking and thorough. There are things
he wants to know, details he wants to learn
in talking to his stepmother that he never
knew before. And the reader winds up with
an eye-opening peek into the domestic life
of a refugee family in our city during very
tough–but very loving–years.
Komie’s book is a novel. The story, told
in the first-person, centers around a single,
66-year-old retired Chicago lawyer whose
large firm has gone bust. He now lives in a
Miami Beach condo that he inherited from
a cousin who was a star jai alai player. Alex-
ander Rincon Pollack has little money, no
close friends and lots of time on his hands
to explore, make new friends and, yes, get
into some mischief.
Pollack is a man still trying to find
himself. He tries out different women as
though he is shopping for a new coffee
table–all of whom in one way or another
are inappropriate–but worthwhile know-
ing for one reason or another. He pursues
some reading, some music, a bit of gam-
bling, speed dating, a bit of lecturing to a
local book club–and he frequents different
restaurants, stores and other sites in his
neighborhood. He also has an imaginary
friendship with Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Yes, Pollack has time on his hands.
As usual, Komie displays his great writing
strength. Aside from the gift of storytell-
ing, he has a knack for describing simple,
yet profound details of everyday life, the
kinds of details that tell a rich and satisfy-
ing story that grabs you and won’t let you
go. I wondered throughout the book about
where Pollack was going exactly and about
where Pollack would end up. I must say I
was quite surprised when I found out where
he did end up, but the journey to that end
makes this novel one of Komie’s finest reads.
Getting to know Pollack was interesting,
delightful and quite fun.